Forced Sexual Victimization Among Youth in Custody: Do Risk Factors Vary by Gender and Perpetrator?

• DOI: 10.1177/0032885519894561
• Published date: 01 March 2020
• Date: 01 March 2020
• Author: Eileen M. Ahlin
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0032885519894561

The Prison Journal

2020, Vol. 100(2) 151 –172

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DOI: 10.1177/0032885519894561

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Article

Forced Sexual

Victimization Among

Youth in Custody: Do

Risk Factors Vary by

Gender and Perpetrator?

Eileen M. Ahlin1

Abstract

There is relatively little literature examining risk factors associated with sexual

victimization among youth in custody. The current study explored whether

risk of forced sexual victimization among youth in custody differs by gender or

perpetrator. Using data from a sample of 8,659 youth who participated in the

National Survey of Youth in Custody, multivariate logistic regression models

were employed to investigate gender differences in risk factors associated

with overall forced sexual victimization and staff-on-inmate and inmate-on-

inmate forced sexual victimization. Findings suggest that gender differences

are more pronounced when perpetrator type is considered.

Keywords

youth in custody, forced sexual victimization, gender, perpetrator

Introduction

More than 10 years ago, Jones and Pratt (2008) called for broadening the

scope of prison sexual assault research to include “more diverse inmate popu-

lations” such as juveniles and females (p. 291). Like other scholars, they also

1Penn State Harrisburg, Middletown, USA

Corresponding Author:

Eileen M. Ahlin, Criminal Justice Department, Penn State Harrisburg, 160-W Olmsted

Building, 777 W. Harrisburg Pike, Middletown, PA 17057, USA.

Email: ema105@psu.edu

894561TPJXXX10.1177/0032885519894561The Prison JournalAhlin

research-article2019

152 The Prison Journal 100(2)

suggested more work was necessary to explore staff-on-inmate victimiza-

tions (see Alaird, 2000; Hensley et al., 2003; Thomas et al., 1996). One large-

scale multiwave effort to collect such data among juvenile detainees is

managed by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and mandated by the Prison

Rape Elimination Act (PREA) passed in 2003. According to BJS, the rate of

sexual victimization among youth detained in state facilities increased sub-

stantially from 19 to 47 per 1,000 between 2005 and 2012 (Beck & Rantala,

2016) despite a 48% decrease in the number of juveniles in custody between

1997 and 2013 (Hockenberry, 2016). Specifically, data from the 2012

National Youth in Custody Survey (NSYC-2) estimate that 9.5% of youth

detained in juvenile facilities experience any sexual victimization (e.g.,

unwanted touching), not only forced victimization (Beck, 2014; Heaton

et al., 2016).1 In comparison, Beck (2014) estimates that among adult inmates,

4% housed in state and federal prisons and 3.2% detained in jails experience

sexual assault while under institutional supervision (see also Beck & Stroop,

2017; English et al., 2010), whereas less than 2% of youth housed in adult

jails and prisons are sexually victimized (Ahlin & Hummer, 2019).

Although the BJS data demonstrate that sexual assault and victimization

are more prevalent among youth in custody than among adult inmates, there

are few studies that explore risk factors of sexual assault among youth in

custody (see Ahlin, 2018; Beck, Cantor, et al., 2013; Heaton et al., 2016; U.S.

Department of Justice, 2010). Furthermore, despite the PREA mandate to

make prison rape prevention a priority in institutional corrections, scholarly

research has yet to address the topic areas highlighted by Jones and Pratt

(2008): juveniles, females, and staff as perpetrators. It has been more than 15

years since the passage of PREA, and we still know very little about youths’

risk of sexual assault in custody and how these characteristics of victims and

perpetrators influence inmate safety. To begin to fill the void in the literature

and address the need for research in this area, this study presents a prelimi-

nary analysis assessing whether risk of forced sexual victimization among

youth in custody differs by gender or perpetrator type.

Literature Review

What we know about sexual victimization in carceral settings is largely based

upon empirical studies on adult inmate risk factors. Although the literature on

sexual victimization among youth in custody is still in its nascent period,

there is a growing body of literature recognizing that risk factors associated

with sexual victimization among youth in custody may be different from

those identified for adult inmates. Recently, scholars have shown that the

number of characteristics and demographic traits that increase youths’